Stop scrolling

It’s so easy to fall into the trap. I saw another absurd political meme and was already composing a response to the absurdity in my mind, but just in time I reminded myself I do not wake up in the morning to argue about politics, nor did I log into Facebook to spend the day tilting against absurd windmills.

But here I am spending a significant amount of time scrolling through nonsense that adds nothing to my day. I sometimes wonder if I am psychologically able to keep my “smart” phone in my pocket for a full day.

We engage with the screen instead of with the world around us. The world is silently shouting “Pay attention! See the world! Interact!” while we scroll through what? Do you remember half of what the screen showed you this morning? or 5 minutes ago? That wise saying you laughed at or nodded in agreement — what was it again? Why did you laugh? Wake up, Warren! There’s a life to be led, tasks to accomplish, needs to fill, weight to shed, dogs to steward — see to your life, work for your purpose, seize the day.

The high-tech tools created to teach us and draw us together are being abused to tear us apart and drive us into ignorance and misunderstanding.

Do I have the guts to stand up and cry, “No! I will love my neighbors! I will treat my supposed enemies with kindness!”?

Some will say, “How can you turn your eyes and speak of love when so much wrong is happening hither and yon?” That is precisely when we need not to just speak of love but to engage with the world in a spirit of love.

And so I resisted the urge and scrolled past the absurd meme after lingering over it for a few moments, but more and more I understand that the real solution is not to scroll past the absurdities but to stop scrolling altogether.

Phooey on yesterday

If I had a page and a third standing between me and the rest of this glorious day, what would I write?

Would it be a poem about sunshine and bird song and the changing of seasons? Or a dark and desolate tale of monsters with two legs and weapons and oppression on their minds?

Or would I sing a song of love and joy and patience and all those fruits? Or an essay about “how freedom means to sometimes follow higher laws” (quoting a song I wrote 40 years ago that still resonates despite the split infinitive)?

Or would I finally work up the nerve to tackle unfinished business? Or stop and take the dog for a walk; she is after all leaning in with puppy eyes and anxious sighs? No, the whole point was to finish my morning journal pages and then walk the dog.

Why do some days feel “together” and others, like this, feel discombobulated? I guess that’s just how humans are — we frustrate ourselves on a daily basis. “Oh, I missed my chance — I forgot what I meant to say or do — woe is me, well, maybe tomorrow.”

And then another day passes and we wake and say, “Well, phooey on yesterday, today is here and off we go.”

Every day will fall short of what we wish it could have been, but every day is a new opportunity and another blank page, so if we shoot for the stars at least we will get a few inches or feet or miles off the ground, and pretty soon we’ll be flying, flying I tell you, and at the very least we’ll reach the bottom of the page and give that patient dog her wish.

Get to the point

For the first half of my career, I was in radio news. I was trained by the three-minute newscast: Tell as much as you can as quickly and concisely as you can.

When I switched to newspapers, it took me awhile to adjust to adding the secondary and tertiary details that may still be important to the story but wouldn’t be vital enough to include in a 30- or 40-second synopsis. I think I’m still good at saying what needs to be said in an economical number of words.

That’s probably why I lose patience with a recent phenomenon in social media — the advertisement or essay that goes on and on and on before getting to the point. They tell a story that identifies the problem. Then they tell another story about trying to solve the problem, and a third story about another approach to the problem, and they hint that the real solution was out there to be found but not yet. You might have to read five minutes or more of beating around several bushes before the writer draws a conclusion or explains what’s on sale.

In this world of short attention spans and ever-shrinking time frames, what is the point of not getting to the point? especially if you’re trying to sell me a miracle cure? “Now that I have your attention, how long can I hold your attention?” It’s as if the real goal is to keep you reading or listening for as long as possible — the opposite of the original social media challenge to say it all in 140 characters.

I’m frustrated when I read an interesting introduction, click on “See more,” and discovered that I’ve been roped into an article that takes a dozen or more thumb flicks to scroll to the end.

This post is just shy of 325 words. That’s all it takes — more than it takes, really — to encourage writers not to be boring.